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Bookmaker Coral set to gamble on £800m float

CORAL EUROBET, Britain’s third-biggest bookmaker, is preparing for an £800m flotation and has appointed an investment bank to work on the listing.

The bookmaker, which has 1,260 betting shops in the UK, has hired Lehman Brothers as its adviser.

A flotation would deliver paper fortunes for the company’s well- regarded management team, including chief executive Vaughn Ashdown and finance director Mick Mariscotti. Management owns 16% of the business and, at the valuations being discussed, that stake would be worth £128m.

A float would also provide an exit for Charterhouse, the private-equity firm that bought Coral for £860m (including debt) in a management buyout in September 2002. It owns the remaining 84% of the equity.

The firm has already recouped more than its original £278m equity outlay after two refinancings. It has taken a total of £560m out of the business to date, making it a highly profitable deal.